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I'm not trying that hard to be offended. I heard about this ad from several people at OSCON who didn't like it and I thought it was a bad joke. I found the real ad, thought it was crass and don't want to quietly stand by while people continue to treat women like this, and I made this post.

Perhaps you disagree, and that's fine. You can disagree without an ad hominen attack, though.

The problem in these cases is that people don't realize the effect of the things they support or say. You say that didn't realize that your post was an attack on me. Is it possible that you also didn't think about the effect of the ad on other people? These things are problems precisely because people do them without considering what harm they might do.Without thinking, you accepted the stereotype, endorsed its use, and then tried to undercut the person pointing it out. That is, of course, the exact proces

I thought the ad was funny - poking fun at the geek stereotype. I believe it's *far* better to think the stereotype is funny than to worry about it being hurtful to either sex.

The problem is, worrying or not, it IS hurtful. It's beyond mere political correctness. Getting respect as a woman, in this business in particular, is hard. And this sort of thing palpably makes it harder. It's a shame, but there it is.

What really makes me boggle is that if there had been some ad geared toward Christians in the magazine, we'd be seeing a huge outcry about it. How dare they alienate atheists! But alienating women? Eh, that's funny!